Apex Scrabble Club Abuja and Jos SC have qualified into the grand finale of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation Inter Club Championship.
The grand finale is scheduled to be held in Abeokuta the Ogun State capital in April.
Apex and Jos scrabble club’s road to the grand finale saw them scaled through the hurdles of the North Central Zonal play-Off.
The two days playoff saw intense battle of wordsmiths as the five participating clubs engaged in twenty rounds of games concluded at weekend at the Zalika Garden, Abuja.
Apex scrabble club displayed dominance as it won all the four matches against Central scrabble club Abuja A, B and C as well as Jos SC, winning a combined 16 rounds, 67 games with a plus 4160 cumulative points.
Apex scrabble club had in its team multiple National Sports Festival gold medalist Jimoh Abdulmumin, 2023 winner of the MGI Pratons Cup, Anthony Odok, Oyebola and the Ebomah brothers Peter and John Curtis were just too hot to handle.
Abdulmumin and Odok fresh from the African Games camp made a light walk of the 25 man field.
Both players recorded 14 wins each just like Peter Ebomah. John Curtis picked 13 wins from 20 rounds of games while Oyebola Alli, the weakest link in the team, secured 12 victories to give Apex Scrabble Club the top spot.
Jos SC, fondly called Rock Solid Jammers, booked their place in the National finals next month by beating Central Scrabble Club Abuja A, B and C teams, winning 11 rounds, 54 games and a cumulative of plus 1211 points.
A member of Team Nigeria to the last West African Scrabble Championship (WASC), Negro Igbinadolor was the arrow head of the Rock Solid Jammers as he accounted for 27.7 percentage games won by Jos SC with 15 on the buns.
Alhassan Shaibu was two wins shy of Negro Igbinadolor who was firing from all cylinders, Henry Nwosu and Benjamin Isa garnered 9 wins each while Tunde Ayeni ended Zonal Play-Off with just 8 wins and a minus 425 points.
Kaduna Central Scrabble Club were the team to pick their ticket to the finals of the NSF Inter Club Championship after brushing aside South Side Scrabble Club to pick the Northwest slot last month.
Anambra Scrabble Club, the sole entrance from the South East are also through to the national NSF Inter Club Championship finals.
South West and South South are the two Zones yet to decide their Play-Offs.